Wireless communication systems are well known in the art. In such systems, communications are typically supported by a wireless infrastructure that wirelessly communicates with one or more wireless communication devices (or mobile devices), such as cellular phones or portable radios. Furthermore, suitable connections between the wireless infrastructure and other networks, such as the so-called plain old telephone system (POTS) or the Internet, allow users of mobile devices to communicate with other parties not equipped with similar mobile devices. In general, such wireless systems provide a convenient means for users thereof to communicate with others despite being on the move.
The portability of such mobile devices, while a great advantage in some respects, has given rise to previously unseen difficulties. For instance, when in a mobile environment (e.g., away from an office or home), users often lack the ability to record information conveyed during voice communications. This situation often arises where a receiving user is listening to audio signals provided directly by another user (as in the case of a typical voice conversation) or from a storage mechanism (e.g., a voice mail system or answering machine), and a telephone number needed by the receiving user occurs within the audio stream. Unless the receiving user happens to have some means of quickly recording the telephone number for later use (e.g., a pen and paper) at hand, the receiving user often has to attempt to memorize the telephone number very quickly. In the case of recorded audio, the user may be able to go back and listen to the telephone number more than once in an effort to memorize it, although this may represent an inconvenience to the user. Additionally, such multiple playbacks represent an added expense to the user in terms of air time charges. Note that the opportunity to replay audio is not an option during a typical live, voice communication. Furthermore, even if the user does have some means at hand for transcribing the telephone number, the nature of many mobile environments makes it prohibitive for the receiving user to be distracted from his/her current activity (e.g., driving a car, walking along a crowded street, etc.) to record the telephone number or divert sufficient attention to memorize the number.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a technique for mobile devices to detect and process telephone numbers occurring in audio streams in order to capture such telephone numbers for later use. Such a technique should preferably operate in an automatic manner or with minimal user input, while still allowing for user intervention to ensure accuracy of captured telephone numbers.